Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 179 Leopard Head's Fire Attack Breaks the Formation, Little Zhang Fei Angrily Cries Out

"Instructor Lin, quickly save Brother Cheng Da!"

Seeing Lin Chong, nicknamed "Leopard Head," charging towards them, Zhu Tong, nicknamed "The Bearded Gentleman," felt his heart sink and immediately shouted.

Lin Chong, nicknamed "Leopard Head," galloped past the gap in the shield formation, his black horse leaping into the air. Behind him, three hundred cavalrymen were pulling black pottery jars from their saddlebags. These oil jars, soaked in pine resin, gleamed eerily in the sunlight, and the torches on either side of the saddle were whipped into streaks of fiery red by the wind.

"Splash!"

With a shout from "Leopard Head" Lin Chong, pottery jars rained down on the iron chain formation.

The viscous oil meandered down the iron birch wood grain of the shield, soaking the tung oil-soaked raincoat on the back of the rattan shield behind it.

Just as Liang Ting's elephant-trunk blade was about to strike Cheng Da's head, he suddenly saw the five-colored silk ribbons around the necks of the soldiers in the formation being ignited by torches thrown by the Liangshan cavalry—those silk threads soaked in tung oil had now become the wicks to start the fire.

Lin Chong, nicknamed "Leopard Head," did not charge alongside Zhu Tong, nicknamed "Beautiful Beard," and Cheng Da, nicknamed "Three-Axe Master," not because he was lazy or afraid, but because he was genuinely observing the situation.

He discovered that this formation not only resembled the javelin formation of southern ethnic minorities, but the outer shield formation also seemed to be the Western Army's spear and shield formation warfare tactic against the Western Xia cavalry.

He immediately realized that this formation was not simple, so he kept thinking about how to break it.

Lin Chong, nicknamed "Leopard Head," came up with the idea of ​​using fire attack after seeing that many of the javelin throwers behind him were carrying rattan shields.

Although rattan shields or rattan armor are lightweight, they must be soaked in oil during the manufacturing process. While they offer high protection, they are extremely flammable and will ignite easily.

Therefore, Lin Chong, nicknamed "Leopard Head," immediately recalled the method used by Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Later Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, to deal with the rattan armor soldiers of the Southern Barbarians—fire attack, burning them to death.

The formation was now a living hell, and the Liang family sons who had lived and eaten together since childhood were being devoured by the rattan shields they had personally crafted.

On the edge of the burning round shield, the venom on the spiked nails evaporated into a bluish mist when heated; the barbs of the iron darts were red-hot in the oil, and when they pierced the chest of their comrades, they left charred and bloody holes.

The worst off was the javelin formation. The purple-gold javelins, after hurling past the wall of fire, turned into stray fire arrows, which in turn ignited the grass in front of them. With a gust of wind, they turned into a blaze and burned towards them.

"General, I'm sorry to offend you!"

The sound of Lin Chong's spear piercing the air amidst the sea of ​​fire was particularly shrill. The eighteen-foot spear tore through the thick smoke and struck Liang Ting's elephant-nose saber with its nine-ringed copper hilt as he returned to defend.

Seeing this, Liang Ting had no choice but to give up the opportunity to kill Cheng Da, the "Three-Strike Axe" expert, and turn his attention back to Lin Chong, the "Leopard Head".

As sparks flew, the warhorses beneath the two men reared up simultaneously—Lin Chong exaggeratedly stomped his black steed's iron hooves, shattering the burning rattan shield, while Liang Ting's blue-maned horse was splashed with oil and instantly turned into a neighing ball of fire.

"Quickly save my godfather!"

A pockmarked man roared as he rolled out of the fire, the tattered rattan shield still stuck tightly to his back.

Three young shield bearers, their bodies engulfed in flames, charged at Lin Chong's horse's head with their bare bodies, only to be knocked away by the burning shields propelled by the serpent spear.

Liang Ting's white beard was already scorched and curled, but the old general suddenly burst into laughter. His elephant-trunk blade sliced ​​through the burning wheat field, the wind from the blade whipping up sparks across the ground: "Well done, young man! This fire formation technique reminds me of the Western Xia raid on our camp back then!"

"The old general is a senior from the Western Army, I've learned a lot from him!"

Lin Chong roared, and his eighteen-foot spear suddenly transformed into a thousand cold stars. This was Lin Chong's signature move, "Rain of Light on Banana Leaves," which he used at this moment. Each spear tip struck the copper hilt of Liang Ting's sword.

With the ninth clang of metal against metal, the wolf's teeth on the elephant-trunk-shaped blade flew out of its mouth, and the old general finally revealed a weakness.

The spear, like a venomous dragon, pierced the opening, but abruptly flipped before it could reach Liang Ting's heart—the shaft struck his right wrist heavily, and the blood-stained five-colored silk ribbon snapped in response.

Liang Ting could no longer hold onto the elephant-trunk-shaped ancient moon blade, and the blade fell directly to the ground.

"You...you won't kill me?"

Liang Ting was very surprised, because Lin Chong's shot just now could have killed him directly, but Lin Chong did not do so.

"The veterans of the Western Army shouldn't have died in the infighting among us, the descendants of Yan and Huang. To die fighting against a foreign race would be a fitting end."

Lin Chong deftly deflected two hidden arrows, then, with his spear swirling around Cheng Da's neck, flung them towards his personal guards, shouting, "Take Brother Cheng away!"

Liang Ting nodded, looking at "Leopard Head" Lin Chong with a look of approval, and said, "What a wise saying! But I am a servant of the emperor, and I must be loyal to him. You spared my life, but I cannot spare yours!"

"On the battlefield, each serves their own master. The old general is not convinced. Lin Chong, take this challenge!"

After saying this, "Leopard Head" Lin Chong swung his eighteen-foot spear. Lin Chong knew very well that the old general Liang Ting in front of him was already quite different from him in strength, not to mention that he was injured and had been fighting for a long time, so he was no match for him.

"What? You're Lin Chong? You're the Leopard Head Lin Chong, the instructor of the 800,000 Imperial Guards in Dongjing?"

Liang Ting had certainly heard of Lin Chong's reputation.

"Exactly!"

"Since you have also received a salary from the imperial court, why do you betray the court!"

Liang Ting rebuked angrily.

"shut up!"

Lin Chong shouted angrily, interrupting Liang Ting's words. The oil dripping from the tip of the spear fell to the ground and ignited a wisp of smoke.

Lin Chong gazed at the white-haired old general before him, then suddenly plunged the butt of his spear heavily into the scorched earth: "Elder Liang, do you know that my martial arts skills should have been dedicated to the borders of the Song Dynasty, but instead I have met this end!"

The burning rattan shields crackled and popped beside the two men, but they couldn't drown out "Leopard Head's" hoarse roars.

Suddenly, the eighteen-foot spear lifted half of the burning military flag, the four characters "Rencheng County Liang" on it curling in the flames: "Back then, Gao Yanei harassed my wife at the Yue Temple. I rushed there upon hearing the news, my fist only half an inch from his nose—that half inch was enough to stop my killing blow! I, Lin Chong, was once obsequious, wholeheartedly following the court, but what did I get in return?"

The elephant-trunk knife that Liang Ting had just picked up drooped slightly after hearing Lin Chong's words, and the nine copper rings on the back of the blade jingled.

"Leopard Head" Lin Chong suddenly shouted, "First, the White Tiger Hall framed me, then on the way to exile in Cangzhou, Dong Chao and Xue Ba scalded my feet with boiling water, and in the Wild Boar Forest, the fire-and-water cudgel was only three fingers away from my head! If it weren't for Brother Lu's timely arrival, I would be dead. Even so, I endured all of this, still hoping to return to Dongjing City one day—"

Lin Chong's spear suddenly pierced the burning shield, pinning two charging shield bearers to the charred wall. At the same time, he roared, "They even burned the Cangzhou hayfield to the ground, just to burn me, Lin Chong, to death!"

In the distance came the cries of Liang's army, and the crackling sounds of burning embers rose and fell. Yet, tears of blood welled in the eyes of "Leopard Head" Lin Chong: "That night, the heavy snow collapsed the thatched hut. I often came to the eaves of the mountain god's temple, huddled under the offering table, utterly alone, when I heard Lu Qian say, 'The warden ordered that it be burned to charcoal before reporting to the Grand Commandant.' Does the old general know that to Gao Qiu and his son Gao Yanei, I, Lin Chong, am like a vermin, but also a thorn in their side, whom they want to eliminate as soon as possible!"

Liang Ting's white beard trembled in the heat, and for the first time, the tip of his knife hesitated.

Lin Chong abruptly ripped open his battle robe, pointing to the tattoos on his face: "The Imperial Court? When the Imperial Court lured me into handing a knife in the White Tiger Hall, did they remember that I had taught the eight thousand Imperial Guards how to use spears and clubs? When Gao Qiu signed his exile warrant in the Flower Hall, did they ever think of the personal guards I had trained for him? Did they spare me?"

Having said this, Lin Chong charged forward, his spear sweeping across and severing the burning Liang-character banner in half: "The emperor you, the old general, were loyal to died the day my wife was harassed by Gao Yanei! The country you were devoted to perished when Lu Qian laughed as he set fire to the hayfield!"

Lin Chong suddenly pointed his spear northward, where the faint smoke signals of the Khitan invasion could be heard. "The blood drunk from this spear should have been spilled beyond Yanmen Pass, but it has been forced upon Liangshan Marsh, all thanks to Gao Qiu and his son!"

Liang Ting's elephant-trunk dagger clattered to the ground. The old general looked at the burning five-colored silk ribbons on the ground and suddenly remembered the look in the eyes of his comrades in the Western Army who entrusted their children to him on their deathbed.

The pungent smell of burnt wheat wafted from the inferno, and in a daze, I saw again the eighty acres of golden wheat fields in Longmen County—it turned out that the words "loyalty and righteousness" had long been burned to ashes.

Beyond the wall of fire, the surviving members of Liang's army were using sand to extinguish the flames on their comrades. Most of the five-colored silk ribbons around their necks had turned to ashes, yet they were still calling out to each other in their Shanxi dialect.

As Lin Chong's cavalry began to retreat, these men, their faces covered in soot, suddenly began to sing a folk song from Longmen County. The hoarse tunes, mixed with the crackling of burning firewood, were even more chilling than the sounds of battle.

During a lull in the bloody battle, three short and one long iron whistles suddenly sounded in the Liang family army's formation. Upon hearing the sound, the rattan shield bearers who were retreating abruptly changed formation—seven bluish-gray rattan shields were stacked in a lotus shape, with their wolf-tooth nails interlocking at the edges, forming a low wall of thorns in front of the formation to block the fire.

The tacit understanding behind this "Layered Wave Formation" technique can be traced back to those eighty acres of wheat fields in Longmen County, Shanxi Province.

When Liang Ting was dismissed from his post in the Western Army and returned to his hometown, he brought the widows and orphans of twenty-seven fallen comrades to his village.

These orphans, who had fought in the bloodbath on the border, practiced combined attack techniques with Liang Ting from a young age: during the autumn harvest, they practiced armor-piercing strength with flails; during the summer weeding season, they practiced hooking techniques with rakes; and in the dead of winter, they used winnowing baskets as shields and rolled around on the threshing ground until they were covered in ice.

The pockmarked man wielding chain darts on the battlefield today was, ten years ago, using a straw rope to tie a weight to shoot sparrows; the one-armed boy who throws poison darts was able to cut wheat with a sickle held between his limbs when he was young—they all wear the Liang family's unique five-colored silk ribbons around their necks, which are tokens of "adopted sons marrying" in the old customs of Longmen.

These people are all orphans and comrades-in-arms orphans that Liang Ting has adopted over the years, and they were raised in Liang Ting's hometown of Longmenzhen.

"Add three to the Kan position!"

A shout rang out from the ranks, tinged with a Shanxi accent. Two young rattan shield bearers suddenly switched positions, the edges of their round shields scraping crescent-shaped marks on the sand—this move, "Double Carp Splitting Waves," was a technique they had practiced while fishing on the Yellow River beach.

The javelin formation behind them was even more ingenious, with eighteen iron javelins thrown out in three stacks, the area covered by the javelin shadows exactly the small area where grain used to be dried in the wheat field back then.

These young men, who grew up eating millet from the Liang family, could drive the tip of a dart into a pottery jar held by their companion thirty paces away, even with their eyes closed.

They pressed forward, covering Liang Ting's retreat, and once again, disregarding the flames, formed a shield formation to block Lin Chong.

"Instructor Lin, I'm here to help you!"

As Zhu Tong, the "Beautiful Beard," slashed his steel blade toward the gap in the shield formation, three rattan shield bearers suddenly leaned back simultaneously. Small crossbows, bound to their backs with cow tendons, fired poisoned short arrows from an unbelievable angle—this insidious mechanism, derived from the pedal crossbows used by hunters in Longmen to catch wolves, had now become a death warrant on the battlefield.

It is said that this thing was created by Xue Rengui, a famous general who came from Longmen County.

Even more terrifying were the foot soldiers who shuttled to fill in the gaps. As soon as someone was swept down by "Leopard Head" Lin Chong, two more would roll along the flank to fill the gap, their tacit understanding as if they shared the same bones.

Liang Ting drew a circle in the formation with his elephant-trunk saber, and all the soldiers suddenly roared in unison.

"Father!"

The roar of "Godfather!" sent shivers down the spines of the Liangshan army—Lin Chong and his men finally realized that they were not ordinary soldiers, but three hundred Liang family men who had the formation etched into their very bones.

One of Lin Chong's personal guards, who was leading the charge, had just cut down a young shield bearer when he was riddled with slits by wrist-cutting knives coming from all directions.

At the same time, Lei Heng and Liang Tian had already begun their separation.

The moment Lei Heng's iron broadsword struck Liang Tian's saddle bridge, sparks flew from the steel beast-shaped armor, sending up a three-foot-long burst of golden light.

The former infantry captain from Yuncheng County grinned, and surprisingly dismounted, kicking up a cloud of dust: "Young general, you can't really show off your skills on horseback!"

Liang Tian twisted and leaped off his warhorse, his brow-tipped sword swirling into nine sword flowers. His move, "Dragon Gate Triple Waves," was fierce, but the tip of his sword was always half an inch away from reaching the throat of "Winged Tiger" Lei Heng. Lei Heng's broadsword was as nimble as a willow leaf in foot combat, always managing to create an opening from an unbelievable angle just as the sword net was about to close in.

In foot combat, experience still matters.

&34;Ah!&34;

Lei Heng, nicknamed "Winged Tiger," suddenly roared and swung the copper hammer at the end of his hilt back at Liang Tian's sword guard.

The young general's hand went numb, and the dagger nearly slipped from his grasp, only to see the broadsword sweeping across the ground.

He leaped over the blade, and half an inch of leather was shaved off the sole of his boot. When he landed, three crescent-shaped slash marks were clearly visible on the bluestone pavement.

The two figures darted back and forth like spinning tops. Lei Heng, the "Winged Tiger," displayed the full power of his foot combat skill, "Ground-Sweeping Blade." Sometimes he would sweep his broadsword close to the ground to attack the lower body, and sometimes he would lift the hilt upside down and use it as a hammer instead of a blade.

Liang Tian's temples were getting damp. He noticed that every time the big man turned around, he would deliberately expose his right ribs. When he thrust his knife straight at the man, the broadsword would swing back from under his arm like a venomous snake raising its head.

Liang Tian suddenly changed his move, turning the dagger from a thrust into a strike, the back of the blade slamming heavily into Lei Heng's left shoulder—this move, "Dragon Gate Tail Swing," was powerful and heavy, and if it hit, it would surely break bones and tendons.

Unexpectedly, "Winged Tiger" Lei Heng neither dodged nor avoided the attack. While his shoulder armor took the blow head-on, his broadsword shot straight into the center like a poisonous dragon emerging from its cave.

Liang Tian took a quick half-step back, but stepped on the half of his boot sole that had just been cut off. In the instant his body paused, the tip of his broadsword had already pried open the leather strap on the side of his heart-covering mirror.

The blade slid along the gold ring of the chainmail into the ribcage, lightly touching the fifth rib before withdrawing. Immediately, beads of blood seeped out from the gaps in the fish-scale armor.